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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Hot August Nights

by Diane Burton

When I first heard about the topic for this month, a Neil
Diamond song immediately popped into mind—“Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” that begins
“Hot August Night…” Love that song. Back in the day when it came on the car
radio, I’d sing at the top of my lungs—windows closed, of course. When I got my
first MP3 player, it was one of the first songs I uploaded. The music starts out slow and builds—just like the old-fashioned tent revivals
the lyrics are about.

Growing up, we didn’t have central air conditioning. It was years before we got a
window unit that didn’t come close to cooling down the house. Even Hubs and my
first home didn’t have central AC. August in Michigan can be beastly hot. Not as
hot as other places in the country, but plenty hot. Like Neil Diamond says in
the song “you could hear yourself sweat.” Oh, yeah. That hot.

One of the best things about August comes in three
nights—the Perseid Meteor Showers. Weather-permitting, we should have quite a
show in the sky the nights of August 11-12 and August 12-13. Although these are
the peak nights, with 50-100 streaks an hour, start watching tonight. The
showers—bits of meteors hitting our atmosphere—increase each night. The showers
begin around midnight, but the best viewing is before dawn. For the next few
nights, if we have clear skies, you’ll find me lying on my deck, holding Hubs’
hand (if he can stay awake), watching Mother Nature’s fireworks.

Photo Credit: David Kingham/DavidKinghamPhotography; taken from
Snowy Range in Wyoming August 12, 2012.

I remember those hot August nights, back before central air conditioning was a must-have. Hard to believe how spoiled we've become. The song doesn't ring a bell - I'll have to look it up. And I've never seen the meteor showers. Sounds like something I'll have to check out some night when I can't think of what to write next!